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Tag: G4S

  • G4S must end its complicity in Israel’s abuse of child prisoners

    G4S must end its complicity in Israel’s abuse of child prisoners

    'G4S helps the Israeli Prison Service to run prisons inside Israel that hold prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory,' campaigners say
    ‘G4S helps the Israeli Prison Service to run prisons inside Israel that hold prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory,’ campaigners say

    According to Guardian as G4S management and shareholders prepare to participate in the G4S AGM on Thursday, we call on G4S management and shareholders to end the corporation’s participation in Israel’s brutal occupation. G4S operates and maintains security systems at the Ofer prison, located in the occupied West Bank, and for the Kishon and Moskobiyyeh detention/interrogation facilities, at which human rights organisations have documented systematic torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child prisoners, held in solitary confinement.

    G4S helps the Israeli prison service to run prisons inside Israel that hold prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory, despite the fourth Geneva convention prohibition of the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory into the territory of the occupier. Through its involvement in Israel’s prison system, G4S is complicit in violations of international law and participates in Israel’s use of mass incarceration as a means by which to dissuade Palestinians from protesting against Israel’s systematic human rights abuses.

    G4S also provides equipment and services to the Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank that form part of the route of Israel’s illegal wall and to the terminals isolating the occupied and besieged territory of Gaza. G4S’s role in Israel’s brutal occupation and abhorrent prison system is unacceptable and must end. Join our call – add your name to this letter on the War on Want website.
    Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ahmed Kathrada South African politician and former political prisoner, Alexei Sayle Comedian, Alice WalkerAuthor, Angela Davis Author and activist, Breyten Breytenbach Poet and painter, John Berger Author, Ken Loach Director, Michael Mansfield QC Barrister, Mike Leigh Director, Miriam MargolyesActor, Noam Chomsky Philosopher and author, Paul LavertyScreenwriter, Professor Richard Falk Professor of international law,Roger Waters Musician, Saleh Bakri Actor

     

    • More than 200 Palestinian children are being held in Israeli prisons. At least two of the jails where Palestinian children are detained – Ofer in the West Bank and Al Jalame in Israel – are supplied with security systems by G4S.

    Several organisations, including Unicef in 2013, have documented the ill-treatment of the children inside these prisons. Unicef reported that the abuse of Palestinian youngsters trapped in the Israeli prison system is “widespread, systematic and institutionalised”. At its AGM last year, a number of concerned shareholders questioned the G4S board about the company’s complicity in the detention and abuse of Palestinian children, eliciting the promise of a review of the current situation.

    A year on, G4S appears to be as entrenched as ever in the Israeli prison system. This is an unacceptable position for the company, with its headquarters in the UK, to be in. We call on G4S to show it has a conscience and terminate its contracts with facilities where children suffer routine physical and verbal abuse, contrary to the norms of civilised society.
    Jeremy Corbyn MP, Andy Slaughter MP, Grahame Morris MP, Richard Burden MP, Katy Clark MP, Chris Williamson MP, Alex Cunningham MP, John Denham MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Paul Blomfield MP, Crispin Blunt MP, Joan Ruddock MP, Mark Durkan MP, Roger Godsiff MP, Hugh Lanning Chair, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Geoffrey Bindman QC, Bruce Kent CND, Caryl ChurchillPlaywright, Victoria Brittain Journalist and author, Rev Canon Garth Hewitt Amos Trust, Professor Steven Rose, John Austin, Betty Hunter

  • Call to bar G4S and Serco public sector contracts

    Call to bar G4S and Serco public sector contracts

    Serco and G4S were stripped of responsibility for tagging offenders last year
    Serco and G4S were stripped of responsibility for tagging offenders last year

    G4S and Serco should be barred from bidding for public sector contracts while they are investigated for fraud, campaigners have said.

    According to BBC prison charity the Howard League for Penal Reform said it had taken a dossier of accusations against the two outsourcing companies to police.

    The firms are subject to a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) probe into contracts for electronically tagging offenders.

    A suspension preventing them bidding for work was lifted earlier this year.

    They were barred last year after an audit found they had charged taxpayers for tagging criminals who were in jail or did not exist.

    Serco won a new government contract after the Cabinet Office ended its ban in February, while G4S has been allowed to bid again since April.

    But the Howard League criticised ministers for considering giving the multinationals new contracts.

    Chief executive Frances Crook said: “The delivery of justice is one of the most precious public services and we must, as a nation, adhere to the highest standards of probity.”

     

    Further allegations

    G4S has agreed to repay £109m to the public purse after an audit found it overcharged for providing electronic prisoner tags.

    Serco said it would pay back almost £70m.

    The SFO is examining allegations that the companies charged for tagging criminals who were dead, offenders who had gone back to jail and others who had fled the UK.

    “The dossier compiled by the Howard League is a litany of failure by private companies,” Ms Crook added.

    The allegations will be sent to the Public Accounts Committee which investigated government outsourcing earlier this year.

     

    “The dossier compiled by the Howard League is a litany of failure by private companies”–Frances CookHoward League

  • G4S Chief Quits After Embarrassing Setbacks

    G4S Chief Quits After Embarrassing Setbacks

    G4SBritish outsourcing group G4S says its Chief Executive Nick Buckles will step down after a string of high-profile setbacks and a profit warning that damaged investor confidence.

    According to Sky News, Buckles, who oversaw a staffing fiasco at the London Olympics last year as well as a failed $8bn takeover of Danish cleaning firm ISS during his eight-year tenure, will step down at the end of May.

    Ashley Almanza, who joined the firm as Chief Financial Officer in March from oil and gas firm BG Group, will take over.

    Under Buckles’ guidance the company’s share price soared as the world’s biggest security firm expanded into some 125 countries.

    But his tenure is likely to be remembered for a succession of incidents that have blighted the group in the past 18 months.

    Buckles’ decision in late 2011 to launch a surprise £5.2bn takeover of ISS hit investor confidence severely.

    It was eventually abandoned.

    Last year, G4S failed to provide sufficient security guard numbers for the London Olympics, prompting the army to step in.

    Analysts speculated on Buckles’ possible exit earlier in May when the firm warned that 2013 profits would be lower than expected due to a shake-up of the prison system in the Netherlands and problem clients in Africa, sending the shares down 14 percent.

    The Ministry of Justice is also now investigating whether it was overcharged by G4S and rival outsourcing firm Serco on its contract to monitor offenders released from prison.

    G4S’s Olympics failure saw Mr Buckles hauled before MPs, during which he admitted it was a “humiliating shambles for the company”.

    Extra military personnel had to be called in to fill the gap left by G4S’s failure to supply enough staff for the £284m contract.

    Chief Operating Officer David Taylor-Smith and Ian Horseman Sewell, who was head of global events, carried the can for the fiasco, but Mr Buckles stayed in his post.

    However, pressure has intensified on Mr Buckles in recent weeks, after a poor trading update caused shares to slump by more than 13% in one day.

    G4S disappointed investors by revealing that weak European markets and pricing pressure on its cash transportation arm in the UK and Ireland had squeezed margins.

    Mr Buckles will walk away with his contractual entitlement to a year’s salary of £830,000 and a pension allowance of £332,000.

    G4S is the largest employer on the London Stock Exchange with more than 620,000 staff worldwide.

    Chairman John Connolly said: “Nick Buckles made a massive contribution to the group over a 28-year career.

    “As chief executive he led G4S in the creation of significant shareholder value following the merger of Securicor and Group 4 Falck – building the world’s leading security company.”

    Mr Buckles was appointed Chief Executive of Securicor in 2002 before taking the top role in the newly created G4S business.

    Shares rose 3% following the announcement.

  • G4S police outsource deal collapses

    G4S police outsource deal collapses

    G4SMultimillion-pound plans by three police forces to outsource services to the firm at the centre of the Olympics security debacle have collapsed.

    Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd said the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Alliance had discontinued negotiations with G4S.

    The three forces were looking into working with G4S in a bid to save £73 million by outsourcing support functions.

    The proposals involved switching 1,100 roles, including human resources, IT and finance to the security contractor.

    But doubts were raised after the company was forced to admit severe failings over the Olympics security contract last summer, which led to police officers and 3,500 extra troops being deployed to support the operation.

    In a statement, Mr Lloyd said: “I have always said that I would make my decision once the evidence was received and assessed. It is now clear that the G4S framework contract through Lincolnshire Police was not suitable for the unique position of the three forces.”

    But he added that outsourcing to other companies would still be considered.

    Mr Lloyd said: “I am already in discussion with other market providers and will continue to talk with G4S about how they can assist policing support services in Hertfordshire. My clear position is that all elements of support work will be considered for outsourcing or other use of the market. I made my decision based on evidence and on the recommendations from the Chief Constables. I still believe that substantial elements of policing support services will be best delivered by the private sector and will ensure that this option is immediately pursued.”

    Kim Challis, chief executive of G4S Government and outsourcing solutions, said: “We have put forward a compelling proposition to the police forces of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire which would have guaranteed them savings of over £100 million over the next 10 years, allowing them to meet the financial challenge of the Comprehensive Spending Review without compromising on efficiency or public safety.

    “Our proposition was to operate back office services at the volume and scale required to deliver significant savings to forces, enabling them to concentrate their resources on frontline roles: it was never about replacing police officers. This has already proved to be the case in Lincolnshire, where we have a successful partnership which, in less than a year, has seen us deliver savings in running costs of around 16%. We continue to work with a number of signatory forces on the Lincolnshire Police contract, including Hertfordshire, to see how we can help them to generate the savings they need.”

     

    Sky News